launched barack obama's candidacy, allowed him to beat hillary clinton in 2008, allowed him to beat john mccain in that general election. and you see those numbers, what they were in january, 2009. >> i forget how much people didn't like that war. and still don't like that war to this day. and that brings us to our nbc "wall street journal" poll we will have tonight and tomorrow morning. >> 6:30 tonight with the first numbers. >> get over to first read and see all of mark's breakdowns. >> thanks, chuck. >>> now to breaking news out of the african nation of algeria, conflicting reports about that hostage situation at a gas plant in the sahara desert. al qaeda-linked militants and local residents claim algerian military helicopters attacked the site this morning. killing at least 15 kidnappers and 35 hostages. a group believed to include foreign civilians. however, an algerian security source tells reuters that dozens of those hostages actually escaped. and yet another report says some hostages are still being held. according to the militants, the kidnapping is present to protest french military